Today, a starter for an internal combustion engine such as a diesel or gasoline engine is generally triggered via a starter relay. So as not to connect the high current, momentarily measuring several hundred amperes, directly through via a semiconductor switch, a relay is used, which can be activated via a comparatively small current using a switching device, preferably a field-effect transistor (FET). Today's control units, as they are used particularly in motor vehicles such as passenger cars, are generally designed for an operating voltage range between 6 V and 16 V. In a voltage range below 6 V, the functioning of the control unit, i.e. the triggering of the starter relay, is not guaranteed.
In the case of known control units, it is possible that, due to a momentary drop in the battery voltage below 6 V as a result of the high electrical load during the starting process, the vehicle electronic system is reset due to the low internal resistance of the starter, which has the undesired effect of also switching off the switching device for activating the starter relay. On account of the reset of the electronic system, however, the momentary voltage drop, possibly in the millisecond range, results in a significantly longer interruption of the starter relay activation circuit. Consequently, the starter relay drops out, and the starting process of the engine is aborted possibly just as the engine was about to start, even though only a momentary voltage drop caused the control unit to reset.